Mark Rutte

Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he has no plans to take a position in either the European Union or European Commission, and put an end to his Netherlands political career. Now leading his third cabinet as PM, Rutte has held the top job for over eight years.

"I'm staying. I'm not going to Brussels," he told NPO Radio 1's 10P1.

He said it would be irrelevant for other European leaders to try and persuade him to resign as Prime Minister to sit in a position like European President or European Commission Chairman. Rutte wants to serve the entire duration of the current cabinet.

Government information service Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst is looking for an online communications advisors to write posts for Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Twitter and other social media. The job entails translating government policy into accessible information for the outside world in the form of creative texts, vlogs and videos for social media, AD reports.

A Dutch trade mission to Saudi Arabia in December will definitely not happen. Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation will not go to the country because of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday, NU.nl reports.

The Stichting Werkgroep Herkenning - the Foundation for Recognition - is calling on the Dutch government to apologize for the abuse of "kraut girls", or "moffenmeiden" as they are called in the Netherlands, after the Second World War. "Moffenmeiden" refers to women and girls who had any form of friendly relationship with German soldiers during the war.

Former Prime Minister Wim Kok (PvdA) passed away after a long illness, his family revealed on Saturday. Over the weekend King Willem-Alexander and various politicians responded to his death. Kok was a well respected man to whom the Netherlands owes a great deal of gratitude, was the general theme of their reactions.

Former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok has died at the age of 80 years old after fighting a lengthy illness. He became the country's leader following the election in 1994, when he led Labour (PvdA) into a coalition with the conservative VVD and centrist D66 parties.

"Wim Kok was a man worth looking up to," said current Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "Completely reliable, perfectly honest and always focused on a solution," Rutte said of Kok. "He was a man with a great sense of responsibility who placed high demands on himself and on those people who worked with him."

The new plans of the Rutte III government now that dividend tax will not be abolished, can not count on the support of the opposition parties, was revealed during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday evening. The opposition parties were all clearly irritated, NU.nl reports.

Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs does not expect that the European Union and United Kingdom will reach a political agreement on the Brexit on Wednesday. "More time is needed to complete those negotiations successfully. At the same time the risk remains that it will not work", he said on Tuesday evening after after a meeting of Foreign Ministers and EU-Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, NOS reports.

The abolition of the dividend tax will definitely not happen, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced after a coalition meeting on Monday evening. The government and the coalition parties reconsidered and decided to definitively reverse the most controversial measure in the government agreement. "The fact is that support for this measure was limited", Rutte said after the meeting, NU.nl reports.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte will investigate whether the burial chamber under the Eerste Kamer in The Hague can be opened to search for the remains of former statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, who was beheaded at the Binnenhof nearly 400 years ago. Rutte is responding to requests from Van Oldenbarnevelt's relatives and questions from SP parliamentarian Ronald van Raak, RTL Nieuws reports.

The Supreme Court shot down one of the Dutch government's main arguments for abolishing dividend tax. The Netherlands' dividend tax is legally very sustainable and not discriminatory for foreign investors. It therefore does not have to be abolished to prevent lawsuits and repayment of taxes, Advocate General Peter Wattel of the Supreme Court wrote in advice to the government, NOS reports.

Alexander Pechtold is resigning as leader of the parliamentary faction of the D66, he announced at the party congress in Den Bosch on Saturday. The party will choose a successor on Tuesday. It is "time for a new generation", Pechtold said n his farewell speech, NU.nl reports.

Four Russian spies wanted to hack into the network of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPWC) on April 13th. Instead of being arrested and entering the Dutch system, they were deported to Moscow that same day. That decision was made by Onno Eichelsheim, director of military intelligence service MIVD. He wanted them out of the Netherlands as soon as possible, RTL Nieuws reports.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his British counterpart Theresa May released a joint statement in which they denounced cyber attacks by Russian secret service GRU as unacceptable. They called attacks on international organizations like the United Nations' Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) reckless and destructive.

Prime Minster Mark Rutte called for more international cooperation in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, local time. The Dutch Prime Minister's speech stood in stark contrast to what American president Donald Trump had to say the day before, ANP reports.

Trump criticized multilateral cooperation between countries and organizations. He renounced virtually everything that even resembles international cooperation.

The second day of the General Political Considerations, the parliamentary debate on the government's plans and budget for the next year, started on Friday morning with parliamentarians briefly commemorating four children who were killed in a railway accident in Oss on Thursday morning, NOS reports.

All but one of the opposition parties signed a GroenLinks legislative proposal to reverse the proposed abolition of dividend tax in 2020. With most of the opposition parties being against the controversial measure, it seems all but certain that the abolition of the dividend tax will play major roll in the Senate elections next year, NU.nl reports.

Queen Maxima expressed her and the King's support for the families of the four children killed in a collision between a train and an electric cargo bike in Oss on Thursday morning. "We have no words for this", she said to journalists during her visit to Drachten.

Despite economic setbacks that threaten from the Brexit and United States president Donald Trump's trade wars, this is a logical time to give "something back" to the Dutch, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said about the budget and the government's plans for next year, NU.nl reports.

The first fans of the Dutch Royal Family started gathering in front of the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague from 5:30 a.m. this morning, wanting to get the best places to see the King and Queen drive by in the Glass Carriage this afternoon and later wave from the balcony, NU.nl reports.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte wants to appoint a "designated survivor" - a Minister that won't attend large gatherings like Budget Day in the future, so that there is someone who can run the country should an extreme emergency suddenly arise - he said in a proposal to the Tweede Kamer, ANP reports.

The Amsterdam city council wants asylum children who've been living in the Netherlands for more than five years, to be able to stay in the country because this is now their home. The council called on Mayor Femke Halsema to ask State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security to implement a so-called children's pardon, Het Parool report.

The government will immediately launch an investigation into the NLA program, in which the Netherlands offered "non lethal support" to the moderate armed opposition in Syria, Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said. He called it "worrying" that the Public Prosecutor labeled at least one group that received Dutch support as terrorist, AD reports.

Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs is facing the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, on Wednesday to discuss statements he made about multicultural societies and Suriname. While the coalition parties support Blok, the opposition parties want him to prove that he can still fulfill his role as Foreign Minister after insulting a number of countries.